2024 Maplewood Cycle

[Salim Belcadi]

Maplewood Chess Club of Montreal is launching its 2024 cycle, culminating with the second edition of the Maplewood Invitational.

The cycle consists of 3 tournaments:

The Maplewood Amateur Cup - March 15-17th: The top 10 players from the open section qualify directly and for free for the Maplewood Professional Cup. Open to players under 2000 elo (best of FQE, CFC, FIDE or equivalent).

The Maplewood Professional Cup - May 31st to June 2nd: The top 3 players qualify directly and for free for the Maplewood Invitational Tournament. Rating restriction: 2000 elo minimum (best of FQE, CFC, FIDE or equivalent).

The Maplewood Invitational Tournament - July 19th to 25th: a 10-player Round Robin event featuring 7 invited Grandmasters, making it one of the most prestigious tournaments in Canada in 2024. The prize fund will be $10,000, with $5,000 going to the winner. The 3 winners of the Professional Cup will be invited, all expenses paid, to the luxurious Manoir Maplewood (Manoir Maplewood (manoirs.ca)), where they will have the opportunity to compete against the following players:

- GM Ivan Saric (CRO), 2680
- GM Jorden Van Foreest (NED), 2668
- GM Aryan Tari (NOR), 2635
- GM-Elect Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux (CAN), 2493
- GM Toms Kantans (LAT), 2482
- GM Bator Sambuev (CAN), 2474
- GM Vignir Vatnar Stefansson (ISL), 2464
- First Place, Maplewood Professional Cup
- Second Place, Maplewood Professional Cup
- Third Place, Maplewood Professional Cup

Current average rating: 2557 FIDE

Chief Arbiter: IA Aris Marghetis


All the players will be accommodated at the Manoir, full board.

The Maplewood Professional Cup will also lineup a strong field fighting for the 3 entries to the Maplewood Invitational Tournament. The current lineup includes the following players (FIDE ratings) and the 10 best placed in the Maplewood Amateur Cup:

- GM Razvan Preotu (CAN), 2462
- IM Jason Liang (USA), 2441
- IM Krishna Sai (IND), 2404
- IM Max Gedajlovic (CAN), 2386
- IM Shiyam Thavandiran (CAN), 2347
- IM Olivier-Kenta Chiku-Ratte (CAN), 2335
- IM Mark Plotkin (CAN), 2334
- IM Arthur Calugar (CAN), 2291
- IM Eric Lawson (CAN), 2192
- IM Thanh Nha Duong (CAN), 2104
- FM Renzo Gutierrez (PER), 2191
- CM Geordie Derraugh (CAN), 2189
- NM Rafael Adam (CAN), 2159
- Thierry Libersan (CAN), 1908

Chief Arbiter: IA Pierre Denommée

The lineups will be regularly updated on Chess-Results.
For more info and registration: Home | Maplewood Chess Club (square.site)

[Hans Jung]

Great news Salim! Nice to see another strong GM tournament in Canada with exciting young grandmasters and a fighting qualifier to make things even more interesting.

[Salim Belcadi]

Thank you very much, Hans. My co-organizer, Charles Lesperance, and I are excited about the potential of this event series to provide Canadian players at every level with opportunities for growth and competition against stronger opponents than their current ratings might indicate.

The 2024 Maplewood Cycle is the inaugural edition of such a "cycle". We are committed to refining the concept for future iterations, with the view of replicating it in Ontario and beyond.

Our inspiration for this initiative stems from recurring feedback we hear:

- Players on a steep upward trajectory often find themselves constrained by the rating limitations imposed by traditional tournament sections. While these restrictions serve an important purpose, they can inadvertently hinder the advancement of promising players at the lower end of the rating spectrum.

- Similarly, elite players face challenges in their progress due to limited opportunities to compete against peers of a higher caliber locally, resulting in few chances to push their ratings beyond the 2300-2400 range (FIDE), except for a select few. The pool of elite players is just too small in Canada.

We believe that by addressing these issues, we can create a more dynamic and inclusive chess community that fosters growth and excellence at all levels.